ADVER MAN II: Cyber Man: Rise to Power
by VGR
Summary: OPERATION COWBOY'S LASSO: The Royal Three is sent to solve the mystery of disappearing cows at the Bronson ranch as a sinister evil manifests back home...their main rivals, the Flush Three.
1. Intro: Operation SPAMBOT

ADVER MAN II: CYBER MAN – RISE TO POWER

Prologue Briefing: S.T.A.R.T. (Story Telling Articulates Recent Times)

The year is still 200X, and the Cyber World has once again begun an era of turmoil. In the short time following the deletion of Adver Man, the remnants of the world's Net Mafias have organized themselves into small and fiercely loyal cells. The newest group formed in these recent months calls itself the Royal Three, a group based in the beautiful beachside coastline of Aron City in Amerope.

Our story begins with the delivery of a great power to the first of the Royal Three, a Navi so strong it is believed to be even greater than Adver Man himself. His abilities fall upon an unlikely new hero, a lazy but high-ranking Net Criminal named Chin, a brash and somewhat stupid rebel. Unlike most Net Battlers, he doesn't want to be the best or most skilled with the best and most advanced technology; all he wants to do is live a modest life and ride his custom motorcycle. Unfortunately, to afford it, he had to do many duties for Royal Three's leader, who even now goads him into carrying out the group's work.

The second member of this group is a young teenage girl named Lumine Royal, the daughter of the Royal Three's leader. She commands the Net Navi Blind.EXE. This Navi is a mysteriously charismatic nine-tailed fox with moth wings wearing a purple kimono, whose weapon of choice is a Chinese harp she uses to summon forth weapons and even virii. All villainy aside, Lumine is a pleasant, kind, somewhat shy girl who enjoys strategy games and even dabbles in certain forms of modern dancing.

Finally, there is the criminal mastermind leader, Dr. Royal, the half-brother of Dr. Regal. He is an easily excited and somewhat inept criminal lord who just can't resist buying the latest and greatest technology. He commands a virus program known as Prometheus.EXE. Due to his belief that fashion trends are corny and overrated, he sticks fiercely to his usual attire: khakis, a white undershirt with an aloha shirt worn over it untucked, tennis shoes, a glass eye, a short beard, a moustache, and hair usually kept long. Don't judge Royal by looks alone. He may seem slightly inept, but he is not. He is COMPLETELY inept. But fearing his retaliation, no member of the Royal Three informs him of his faults, and so Dr. Royal exists as a human tragedy.

The group is known as the Royal Three because…well…at this point, the group only has three members. Total. Being an absolute spendaholic, Royal spent too much money on new technology to even worry about buying the loyalty of new minions, goons, and human shields. The group is off to a rough start, but then again, underdogs have gone on to achieve great success.

And this is where our story begins.

OPERATION 1: S.P.A.M.B.O.T. (Sadistic Promotional Advertising Messenger Becomes Obedient Trainee)

Four o' clock AM in Aron City...what a time to get up in the morning. Chin had the complete lack of foresight to drink coffee before he went to bed, and so he had become excessively jittery that night. Two shots of Espresso, downed straight up after halting a conspiracy by a rival gang to get rid of Dr. Royal. What a time for caffeine.

He grudgingly made his way over to the refrigerator in order to find something, anything to eat and make himself feel tired and relaxed again. The Espresso danced around in his stomach and pounded the insides of his head as he pulled open the refrigerator door to find…

"…Cheetos?" Chin thought to himself as he pulled out a bag of stale orange goodness. "Anything's better than nothing…although when did Royal start buying THESE? I thought that senile old bag preferred Doritos. Anything that ends in –tos, I guess…"

"Unnnhhhh…" moaned a female voice behind him. Chin turned in the direction of the voice and saw his female partner-in-crime, dressed in her teddy-bear jammies.

"What are you doing up at this hour?" Chin asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"That's MY question," Lumine replied, rubbing her scalp and groaning. "Anyway...we got anything in there besides coffee and alcohol? I'm so thirsty..."

"I'll ask the questions around here…what are WE doing up at this hour?" yawned Royal as he walked out from the shadows dramatically…and then un-dramatically tripped and fell flat on his face. It was an irony that this clumsy wonder of a man had not yet broken his glass eye.

"I don't care...I'm heading back to the sack," Chin groaned as he started eating the pack of stale Cheetos, making his way back to his bedroom. "Good night…"

"Good night," Lumine muttered as she made her way back to her room, grabbing a bottle of water and gulping it down as though she had a grudge against the fish it had been taken from.

Chin and Lumine made their way back to their respective bedrooms. As for Royal…he simply stood there, staring into space and trying to remember the reason he was even up to begin with. A few minutes later, a slap of his fist indicated he finally recalled his cause for waking up at this insane hour. He got a cold can of beer from the refrigerator and made his way to the living room, sitting down gleefully in front of his television as it droned the noise that would drone endlessly into the night:

"What are these people running from? They're not! They're running TO the world's toughest competition in town! MXC…Most Extreme Elimination Challenge! Tonight, the Net Saviors take on the Bathroom Attendants! It's the people who make a living fighting evil versus the people who get to clean up after it!"

THAT MORNING…

"Are you sure you want to bestow it upon this person?" Slur asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"There is no point in deciding against this fated choice now!" Duo replied seriously. "Once you lost your bid to give it to Wily against me in Tic-Tac-Toe, we agreed to give Adver Man's data to Chin."

"But…Wily is a more worthy candidate…" Slur replied, somewhat pouting but then stopping as soon as she realized she was being overly dramatic and…gasp…out of character.

"Wily?" Duo asked as he narrowed his eyes. "You're kidding me, right? Surely we cannot risk this power falling into the hands of someone as insane as him."

"Point taken," Slur murmured, slightly defeated but relieved that the right choice had been made after all. "Well then, I'll be back in half an hour."

"I'll have the waffles ready," Duo called after Slur as she emailed herself back to Earth.

GREASY HAWG BREWERY, HEADQUARTERS OF THE ROYAL THREE…

Chin was soundly sleeping in his bed…literally. The mechanical chainsaw chatter of his snores echoed across the streets of Aron City as loudly as the chirps of the morning birds trying to outdo him.

His room was a simple one: white walls with red jagged stripes, a computer desk with the latest Macintosh model sitting atop its hilt, and the mandatory bunny slippers sitting beside his bed. Then, of course, there was an atomic clock hanging in a highly visible position on his wall, so he could still operate in the appropriate time zone. Finally, there was Chin, sleeping like a baby, albeit an extremely loud one.

Suddenly, a loud "DUNNNNN!" could be heard echoing throughout the room, causing the birds outside to shut up and find someone else to disturb. It even caused a minor disruption in Chin's snoring, resulting in him falling out of his bed and waking up involuntarily. This sound was all too familiar by now: the sound of a computer activating, a droning echo signaling the gratuitous electronic entertainment to come. Only in this case…

"Where exactly is that operator?" Slur wondered as she glanced around the room, looking at the clothes randomly and chaotically strewn about the floor, stale Dorito crumbs scattered across the desk, a stereo system still booming "Answer Must Be Somewhere," a disorganized bookshelf…

"I'm starting to wonder how anyone can even live here…" Slur thought to herself as she continued examining the room and wondering if tornadoes really existed indoors. "What kind of person actually inhabits a place like this?"

"BOO," Chin said in monotone as he thrust his face in front of the screen while brushing his teeth, after which Slur emitted a little yelp and fell backwards, her face blue with shock. Witnessing this, Chin made a slight smirk and continued, again in monotone, "Hey, you're kinda cute. For a Net Navi, anyway."

"You're even freakier than the last person I gave something like this to…" Slur huffed between heavy breaths, thinking back to the days of Kenishiro.

"Oh, you mean THAT dude," Chin shrugged. "Mrrrfff mfrmfrrrff mrrf."

"Pardon?"

"What I mean is," Chin continued as he removed his toothbrush from his mouth, "I remember that dude. The ad guy, right? I have to thank you for doing me a public service. No more telemarketing…the world is a better place without it."

"Of course not," Slur replied, closing her eyes dramatically. "After the chaos that erupted from the defeat of the advertising Navi Adver Man, companies no longer have a medium to advertise their products! He may have been evil, but he was a necessary…are you even listening to me?"

"I'm sorry, wha' now?" Chin asked as he continued brushing his teeth. "Your talk is a little too long-winded for me…"

"Fine," Slur said as she started drawing a few digital pictures, "I'll explain it so that even an idiot like you can understand what I'm saying."

"Fine, go ahead," Chin replied, shrugging obliviously.

Busting out several incredibly poorly drawn, childish stick-figure CG'd pictures, Slur proceeded to explain: "After Adver Man was destroyed, his data would have usually passed over to a realm called the Purgatory Server. Originally, we thought that the world would be better off without an evil as despicable as him…but we were wrong. Chaos and disorder erupted on Earth, and we've been forced to intercept his data on his way to the server."

Chin cringed in response as his left eye twitched.

"After we intercepted his data," Slur continued as she opened another poorly drawn and stupid picture, "we reorganized him into a new Navi. Since his entity has been sent to the Purgatory Server, this new Navi is nothing but data, and therefore needs another Navi to host it. The obvious choice…is you."

"Why me?" Chin asked as he raised an eyebrow. "My Navi is just fine."

"Chin?"

"Yah?"

"…Look at it."

With this, Chin looked down at his standard Navi, a small fuzzy and rectangular thing with beady eyes and a fanged mouth, dancing around like an idiot and screaming, "DUHH DAHH DAHH DUHH!"

"Point taken," Chin shrugged. "But there's one thing I still don't get."

"What is that?" Slur asked, wondering what could have possibly been misunderstood in an explanation as simple as hers.

"…Why the heck do your Photoshop skills suck so badly?"

"DO YOU WANT THE DATA OR NOT?" Slur shrieked.

"Uh, yeah, just a minute. So why does it have to be me?"

"As the potentially most powerful member of this clan, it's up to you to promote order on the Net…and that is why you must command this new Navi and help the Royal Three destroy the remaining clans. You must commit yourself to defending harmony on Earth and in the Cyber World."

"Well, if that's the case, I guess I'm up for it…" Chin murmured, "…although I don't buy into all of this commitment junk. If I do decide to help Dr. Royal or any other such person, it'll be whoever, whenever I want to."

"Fair enough," Slur replied, smiling and nodding her head. "Are you ready to accept the duties of a Net Savior?"

"Eh, sure," Chin shrugged obliviously. "Whatever, just give me the data and I'll decide what needs to be done from there."

"This…this man has to be the most brash and crude person I've ever met…" Slur thought to herself, "…but then again, there's no one else…"

With that, she made a sweeping motion of her arms and in a brilliant flash of light, Chin's new-generation PET suddenly expanded itself into a heavily advanced, highly futuristic device about twice the size of a normal PET.

"Er…" Chin murmured in awe, "…that's pretty cool, but why the new mods?"

"There's no other way to store Cyber Man's data. He IS an incredibly large file, you know."

At that point, Lumine rushed into Chin's room half-dressed, her pajama shirt buttoned halfway down in an unwittingly enticing manner. "Chin, what's going on here? Are my ears deceiving me, or did I just hear a big noise?"

"Lumine," Chin said as he turned to his partner, "meet Slur. She's some cyber servant sent to give me a new Net Navi. She even gave me a whole bunch of neat mods I didn't even have to pay for. That, and she's just about as hot as you are."

SLAP!

Getting up from Chin's steaming heap on the floor, a madly blushing Lumine looked at Chin's PET and squealed, "Oh, he's so CUTE!"

CUTE. Of all the things Chin wanted his new Net Navi to be, it was that one dreaded word…cute. Just the sound of having something like that made his knees weak with thoughts of endless torture and humiliation. Shuddering, he looked at the visual output screen of his new PET…and his eyes met with the strangest Net Navi he had ever seen.

A brightly lit angelic halo, resembling Roll's antennae. Humongous beady red eyes. A red cloak surrounding his entire body, similar to Darkman's cape. And finally, all this horribly adorable cuteness was topped off by an overly compressed, chubby body.

"Chin…" Slur said formally with a polite bow, "…meet your new Asteroid Navi…"

The little curious being greeted its new master by jumping up and down, each time waving its little feet rapidly in mid-air, as though attempting to use them to fly.

"…CYBER MAN.ZIP!"

"Whee! A new master!" Cyber Man squealed gleefully.

"All of that…" Chin yelled desperately to Slur, "…to give me something like THIS?"

"…Don't blame me," Slur shrugged. "I'm just following my master's orders."

With those final words, she disappeared before Chin could file any more complaints, or (gasp) appeal for another Navi. As for Chin himself, he simply stood and stared at his new Navi, completely stupefied, as Lumine made fangirly squeals at Cyber Man.

"Something the matter?" Cyber Man asked with a tilt of his head.

"Uh, noooo…" Chin muttered as he raised an eyebrow. "I just imagined someone a little more powerful…and a little bigger."

"Heehee, don't judge me by looks alone!" Cyber Man squealed…and then jumped up and down some more, making his new operator cringe even harder.

"I think he looks cute!" Lumine said happily. "Blind? What do you think?"

A mysterious blue fox-like navi with a strange lighted visor covering its eyes replied, "He is rather adorable…but doesn't look powerful at first glance. I'll wait until I see him fight to make a final judgment."

"YOU JUST MAY GET YOUR CHANCE!" Dr. Royal screamed as he rushed into the room, nearly inducing heart attacks in everyone but him. "Our first client has called in, and she wants us to complete a task for her!"

"Where is this new mission?" Chin asked seriously, getting straight down to business as always.

"It's based in the small neighborhood of Japantown, bordering the Western coast of Aron City," Dr. Royal replied, scratching his chin and looking off to his left. "Something about a foreign exchange kindergarten teacher named Madoi…humiliating children by forcing them to play in Dance Dance Revolution tournaments during recess hours. Now it's up to us to stop her evil misdeeds, because the client's little sister is in her class, and can't stand for her her to be humiliated in DDR any longer."

Chin and Lumine couldn't say they were surprised; this mundane task was pretty much another day as usual for the Royal Three Crime Syndicate.

"Client name?" Lumine inquired, almost as seriously as Chin.

"Mary Towa, I believe. She commands a Net Navi known as Ring…and I believe the younger sister is named Helen, and she doesn't yet command one of her own."

"I guess we'd better get started," Chin sighed. "This'll be our first chance to see you in action, Cyber Man...I stongly hope you're as good as this advanced PET says you are. After all, Madoi can't be THAT hard of an opponent to fight against, can she?"

"Actually," Dr. Royal moaned as he rubbed the back of his head, "you're not going to fight her in an actual Net Battle. The deal says that in order to stop her…she must be beaten in a DDR competition…with your Navi being the participant. Only then will she stop bullying those kids."

Chin shuddered. Why this, of all things? Of all the possible paths to victory that could have been lit for him, it all came down to the one thing in the world that he was bad at…

…a dancing competition.

MEANWHILE, DEEP IN SPACE...

"Are you sure we made the right decision this time?" Slur asked her gargantuan master uncertainly. "They are a criminal gang, after all..."

"Of course," Duo replied with a slight grin. "But remember, they are headed by Dr. Royal. The one who never allies with anyone. He is brash, arrogant, and the very definition of inept. I looked up his entire history, and can judge his exact personality based on that. He was specifically chosen for this mission because no matter how powerful his reputation...he is still a moron."

"I hope you're right," Slur sighed. "Very well. In order to free the Cyber World from corruption, we will place our faith in that bunch of idiots."

END OF OPERATION


	2. Operation BACKTRACKER

A pink-haired, twin-ponytailed woman hovered menacingly over the little children who tormented her with jokes about her overly applied makeup. During class hours, they tortured her soul relentlessly as she was forced to endure their incessant rambling.

"Oh, Madoi, you're so old!" one would cry.

"Yeah, she looks like my mom!" another would continue.

"Only infinitely uglier!" shouted the third and final nail in the coffin.

However, all this tension only built up to a dreaded moment when the tables finally turned and this "Madoi" would realize her dreams of revenge. Yes, the moment the bell rang, the children would have played gleefully, only the insane pink-haired woman took immense glee in avenging her dignity on the little rascals in this one latent moment in time known as…

"…RECESS!" Madoi screamed as she jumped over her desk with the athleticism of an Olympic athlete. "…and you know what THAT means!"

The children groaned as they reached into their pockets and brought out their pocket change and placed it in a small hat on Madoi's desk. With that done, she stepped into a corner of the room and unveiled the machine that would seal their doom as she shouted ominously:

"Place your bets and pick your songs…it's clobberin' time on Dance Dance Revolution!"

OPERATION 2: B.A.C.K.T.R.A.C.K.E.R. (Brutally Arrogant, Conceited Kindergarten Teacher Relentlessly Attacks Cute Kids' Egos at Recess)

"This is the place…" Dr. Royal murmured as his eyes glazed over the kindergarten school facility.

"The last place where anyone would expect to find violence," Lumine muttered as she stared at the gleeful rainbow-colorized exterior of the smallish building. "…and yet here we are."

"I'm scared," Chin grunted as he looked through a small window at all the pink bunnies and foam blocks scattered messily throughout the room. "…Extremely, utterly scared."

"I'M HAPPY!" squealed Cyber Man as he jumped around to display said happiness.

"Are you sure this data made him…smarter?" Royal asked as he raised an eyebrow. "He's pretty much as stupid as your old standard Navi."

"Eh, it's cool," Chin shrugged in his standard whatever-dude-we'll-live manner. "I'll make do with what I've got. How hard could it be to beat a conceited part-timer like Madoi?"

As if to answer his question, Madoi won her latest bout of DDR and emitted her standard "Naganaganaga!" laugh with a tone so shrill that the Royal Three were forced to cover their ears and cringe. Somewhere in the far distance, a window cracked.

"All right, that's it!" Lumine huffed. "I can't stand bullies!"

With that, she busted open the door to see a handful of kindergarteners sobbing as Madoi laughed heartily. The Royal Three approached her cautiously with their ears covered to avoid the shrieking pains of her laughs, even worse than nails scratching against a chalkboard.

"Naganaga…ah! Who might YOU be?" Madoi said quite cockily, directing a piercing gaze at her potential new victims.

"You're kidding, right?" Chin muttered disappointedly. "You're a criminal, and you don't know who the Royal Three are?"

"Err…" Royal whispered to Chin, "…with all due respect, we were formed only a week ago."

"Granted," Chin shrugged as Lumine got everyone back on the point: "Anyway, Madoi, why are you bullying these kids anyway?"

"Yeah, why are you hating on us?" screamed a young girl. "My sister Mary Towa's gonna beat you up on DDR!"

"…Aaaaannnnd there's the mission objective," Chin said in monotone while pointing at the hyperactive young lady. "So what's your name?"

"Helen Towa!" she replied cutely while kissing each member of the Royal Three (even Lumine, much to her wonderment…and humiliation) on both cheeks.

"So what do you say we get this over with and go home?" Chin shouted with determination, or just plain laziness and desire to go home. "Cyber Man, I have no idea what you can do, but let's hope we can do it."

"We is right!" squealed Madoi. "You! The Chinese nerd! Slap on these boots and prepare for a whooping!"

The scenery suddenly grew dark as Chin became engulfed in flames. Lumine and Royal looked at each other and backed away from him as he turned on Madoi and took revenge on her for calling him that one ill-fated term he hated the most…NERD.

(THIS SECTION CENSORED DUE TO GRAPHIC NATURE)

Getting rid of two random black rectangles that had suddenly appeared in front of their eyes, Lumine and Royal saw Chin standing atop Madoi and shouting: "Who else wants to say it?"

"Umm…Chin," Lumine murmured, "we're supposed to stop Madoi from bullying the kids, not become bullies ourselves…"

"Ah, sorry," Chin replied as he turned to the terrified kindergarteners and shouted, "What have we learned today, kids?"

"Never call people with glasses nerds!" replied the children in gleeful unison.

"Good children. Now then, about these boots…what do I do with them?"

"P-place them on your feet, sir!" Madoi replied hastily and understandably terrified. "From the moment you wear those boots, your feet will be synchronized with your Navi's."

"Then what's the point?" Royal countered, posing a surprisingly intelligent question for someone so inept. "Isn't that the same as just playing DDR against another human? So why should the Navis be involved!"

"You fool, in these ages of Net Battling and training one's Navi, there's no longer a point in teaching Navis to fight alone!" Madoi replied, posing a surprisingly intelligent response for one so stupid. "By teaching Net Navis to fight, we enhance their strength and power, but by teaching them to dance, we enhance their ability to learn!"

"Ooohhhh! Tell us more!" shouted the now-eager kindergarteners…and Chin.

"What are you doing?" Lumine cried. "You're on OUR side!"

"Oh right," murmured Chin sheepishly as he got back to the other members of his team. "Okay…guess I'm up first."

He slipped on the boots and plugged in Cyber Man, as Madoi did the same and logged in Color Man. The two Navis looked at each other…and laughed.

"Y-you're so cute!" Color Man squealed, laughing uber-stupidly.

"I-I'm so cute!" Cyber Man continued as he laughed kinda stupidly.

"Let's get serious!" Chin shouted. "I'm going for the best setting I know how to handle…Easy Difficulty!"

"What a coincidence!" Madoi cried. "That's my favorite setting too! As the challenger, I'll let you pick the song."

"I pick…er…so many…" Chin groaned. "Wait, here's a good one!"

"I pick…Ring Around the Rosey!" Chin shouted dramatically.

Everyone in the room stood with their mouths wide open as Madoi wondered, "How the heck did that song get in here?"

"As long as he wins…" Blind thought to herself, a sweatdrop manifesting on her forehead.

The song proceeded with a rapid flurry of drums, whistles, and weird harmonica rhythms, combined with off-key voices that would make an ordinary person cringe. Everyone present looked in awe at Madoi and Chin as they danced to the rhythm…and looked absolutely weird trying to do it.

"That is just the dumbest dancing I've ever seen…" mumbled one kindergatener.

"Now that I see another person doing it," another child murmured, "…Madoi's really, really stupid."

Royal and Lumine nodded their agreement, looking on stupefied as Chin and Madoi tried in vain to dance to the song, resulting in constant "Boo" noises. Finally, the insanity ended as the machine, utterly stupefied by how poorly both of them danced, ended the song prematurely and proclaimed, "Get off the stage, losers!"

"I…I don't understand…" Chin murmured. "Surely we must be better than this!"

"It's a tie!" Cyber Man squealed. "Everyone wins!"

"Eh, no," Madoi murmured. "The agreement was that I would stop bullying the kids until I was beaten, not tied."

"I thought Cyber Man was described as an Ultimate Power," Royal whispered to Lumine, who shrugged in response.

AFTER SCHOOL HOURS…

"Helen, how was your day?" Mary said gleefully as her sister kissed her on both cheeks.

"Guess it was okay," Helen shrugged. "This big guy came and said he would beat Madoi, but it ended up in a tie!"

"Oh?" Mary replied as she tilted her head quizzically. "Who might this big guy be?"

"Him!" Helen squealed gleefully as she pointed toward Chin, accompanied by Dr. Royal and Lumine.

"Hey wassup. My name's Chin."

"I'm Lumine!"

"I'm Dr. Royal, a crime lor…OW! Why'd you do that, Lumine?"

"Um, you're kidding, right? Criminal cardinal rule three says: Never give out our secret identities to civilians!"

Chin rolled his eyes and approached Mary, saying, "Anyway, it seems Madoi is a very strong opponent in DDR…so far, we can't think of a way to beat her yet."

"Oy," Mary said as she slapped her head. "Indeed, Madoi is quite powerful…but with that said, I can teach you DDR!"

"Um, if you can teach us, why didn't you challenge Madoi in the first place?" Blind asked with a tilt of her fox head as she asked the most logically succeeding question.

"I can't…" Ring responded for Mary. "My operator is always in class during the recess hour and that's the only time Madoi opens up the classroom for DDR challengers…if only her schedule were more convenient, we would clobber her."

"So I guess class is in session, then," Chin shrugged. "Later Royal and Lumine…I'm off to learn DDR."

Chin went off with Mary and Helen as Royal and Lumine stood rather stupefied.

"Umm…what just happened?" Lumine murmured.

"I think they're off to do their own thing," Royal replied obliviously as he stated the obvious. "So what should WE do?"

"It sounds like they've got everything covered, so let's go for a night on the town."

"Such a beautiful idea!" shouted Royal as he made a peace sign for whatever reason. "That's my daughter!"

Lumine grinned back…but sort of shuddered inside.

MEANWHILE, DEEP IN SPACE…

"A…a dance competition?" Duo muttered in a manner denoting WTF. "Who would have the insanity to think up something like that?"

"Duo?" Slur replied as she raised an eyebrow, "It's Madoi we're talking about here."

"Point taken, but still, the concept of that Dance Dance Revolution game baffles me."

"Come on now, that machine has its uses. Remember, we did use a DDR competition to destroy the unworthy Martians."

"Granted. I suppose it's all up to them now…although, is this really the nature of most tasks that the Royal Three undertake?"

"As a newbie mafia group, yes."

"Slur?" Duo asked uncertainly as he motioned his head slowly and uncertainly towards her, "…Earth is doomed, isn't it?"

Slur lowered her head and replied, "Without a doubt, there is a strong likelihood, but that remains to be seen. Chin may be as relatively inept as Royal, although the girl Lumine does show an overwhelming amount of promise. However, Chin's receiving training from Mary Towa."

"Mary? The Intercontinental DDR Champion? Surely she should be able to teach him something…although I question Cyber Man's ability to learn…"

"Like I said, everything remains to be seen. In the meantime…would you like to play some DDR?"

"…I thought you'd never ask," Duo replied with a grin as wide as the curve of the Earth.

And so, as Duo and Slur played DDR, Chin trained with DDR champion Mary Towa and younger sister Helen, and Lumine and Dr. Royal went off to do who knows what. The very props to set the stage for a desperate conflict between good and evil had been placed in motion…and now it was only a matter of time.

OPERATION TO BE CONTINUED


	3. Operation BACKTRACKER, part 2

OPERATION B.A.C.K.T.R.A.C.K.E.R. (continued)

Aron City Arcade is a breeding ground of amusement for children excessively burdened with the harsh realities of life. Yet for two people, this reality was more harsh than both of them cared to say, for theirs was a purpose as equal to or greater than amusement…the purpose of vanquishing an evil kindergarten teacher. Deep in the far corner of the arcade where all the older games hung out, Mary filmed Chin trying desperately to do DDR.

"No, no, NO!" cried Mary as Chin tripped over and stumbled for the umpteenth time. "You have to find your center of gravity and do the break dance maneuver 0.11 seconds before the arrow blinks, not 0.21!"

"Argh," Chin murmured as he rubbed the back of his head. "I'm just no good at these precision moves! How do you do it right?"

"Exactly how I said it!" Mary replied haughtily as she brought out a random rubber whip and lashed it to create a swift snap that made Chin cringe. "Now do it, or there will be no more supper!"

"Umm…okay…you're sort of going off the deep end, aren't you?"

"Er…sorry. Anyway, it seems from watching you that your technique seems more suited to an upper body technique."

"And how do you figure that?"

Mary got out a video camera and opened the LCD screen, setting the camera to Playback mode. As she played the video, Chin saw that Mary had started out filming his upper body.

"Now listen carefully," she said seriously. "Your upper body technique is well-refined. You told me you grew up as a…what was it now?"

"Er…a garbage collector," Chin said, remembering Cardinal Rule Three: never reveal your criminal ID.

"Right then. Your long history of lifting garbage bags gives you a powerful upper body build as well as defined muscles and excellent coordination. However, that matters little in DDR, where most physical effort will be concentrated on the lower body, the legs in particular."

"So then…" Mary said as the video continued, showing Chin executing the poorest footwork in the history of DDR newbism, "…the part that matters? It just…well, let me just say that I have bad news, good news, and even better news. First the bad. Your lower body is absolutely horrible at DDR. Then the good: there's plenty of room for improvement, and I know exactly how to help you."

"So what's the even better part?" Chin asked seriously.

"The even better part is…" Mary started out dramatically.

"Yes? YES?"

"…that you're so terrible at DDR, there's no possible way you could get any worse than where you are now!"

Chin made a rousing cheer as May rolled her eyes disappointedly.

ARON CITY, JAPANTOWN AREA…

"Ooh, ooh!" a loud and shrill voice shouted from the direction of an anime video and toy store. "Get me that one! Oh please, get me that one!"

The pounding of two sets of feet could be heard inside the novelty store as a bearded old man in casual wear with a purple-haired teenage girl ran frantically throughout the floor, much to the dismay of the clerks and manager.

"I've almost completed my collection!" the same voice cried. "Please, oh PLEASE buy me that one! I need the little black bird and the kitty in overalls! And please get me a big plushie too!"

"You know…" the other person replied, "…we really should start saving money…Dr. Royal."

"But Lumine!" Dr. Royal squealed with a puppy-dog expression as he pointed at the few plushies he needed for his collection. "I wanna have the complete set!"

"Er, isn't this a bit childish for someone your age, Dad?"

"I've seen worse," muttered Blind as she shook her head, as Lumine wondered how this was possible for her to see anything. Blind was, after all…well, blind.

"Childish?" Royal said, suddenly becoming determined. "I'm thinking investment here! Who knows what this will be worth in a few years, when production no longer continues? You're talking to the one guy who bought up every Chibi Darth Vader at every local Burger King and never unwrapped them! How else do you think I fund the Royal Three?"

"Granted," Lumine murmured, closing her eyes. "But…I can't help but wonder how Chin is doing."

"Indeed," Royal wondered, becoming serious for once. "I've little doubt he has most of the mission covered, since he's training with an Intercontinental Champion to defeat someone who's really quite the opposite on the difficulty spectrum…but still, we really ought to go in case he can't handle her."

"For once, Dad, you're on to something," Lumine nodded.

"It would be wise to have a plan B," a looming golden cybernetic Net Navi known as Prometheus echoed in a booming voice from Royal's PET.

"Th-that's the first time I've ever heard him talk," Blind stammered, understandably surprised.

"Of course he does, all the time," Royal shrugged. "He's a little shy around other people though, so he'll only talk if I say something smart enough, and then he won't be embarrassed to have a master as inept as me!"

"Pitiful is the one who is inept and knows it," Prometheus boomed while raising one of his cybernetic arms, "…but even more so is the one who is unaware of said ineptitude."

"I have no idea what you just said…" Royal muttered, "…but it's best if we accompany Chin as backup. That good idea warrants a plushie to complete my collection."

Lumine grunted as she busted out her almost maxed-out credit card…and the sad thing was, most of her charges were for gifts made for Royal. The sooner the Royal Three got more funds, the better.

THE NEXT DAY, RECESS HOUR AT SMILEY TIME KINDERGARTEN…

It was zero hour at the adorable little school facility…and unfortunately, Chin and Mary had gone AWOL. The children lowered their heads in defeat as the thought of losing in DDR yet again loomed high over their heads. Their one true savior had gone missing, and there was no one else…or was there?

"So where is he?" shrieked Madoi as the adorable kindergarteners cowered in fear as Lumine and Royal nervously glanced at her, then at their watches. Hovering menacingly over her students like a fog of war on a battlefield, Madoi continued, "Where is Chin, this great hero of yours?"

"I…I guess he's not coming after all…" Royal murmured. "Maybe he really was a hopeless case…it looks as though we're doomed for now."

"Give him five more minutes," Lumine whispered. "I'm sure he'll come…"

"It's already been ten minutes…recess ends in ten more! We won't have time!" Royal hissed.

"Then I suppose we'll have to take matters into our own hands!" Lumine shouted as she stepped forward to challenge Madoi. "Are you up for it, Blind?"

"She looks like an easy victory to me," Blind shrugged as Royal thought to himself while his eye twitched, "…Can you even SEE what she looks like?"

"Uh-oh…" Color Man moaned. "This one looks like a challenge…"

"As the challenger," Madoi shouted while pointing at Lumine, "YOU get to pick the song. Smiley Time rules."

"I pick…Candy!" Lumine cried as she picked what had to be the fastest-paced, most hectic song in all of DDR. "Normal difficulty!"

"Y-you're kidding, right?" Royal murmured. "That's the hardest one…I think it's a Secret Level or something."

"Yup, I've been practicing," Lumine whispered back. "Now, Madoi, what say we get this thing on so we can stop your bullying and go home already?"

"Fine by me."

And so the tournament began as both strapped on their Navi Synchronization boots. Madoi struggled to move her feet to the hectic flurry of arrows making their way to the top of the screen, wondering if Lumine was doing any better…

…then she looked over at her.

Lumine had dominated this match from the start, executing break dance moves maneuver by skilled maneuver as though she were a professional veteran gamer. The kindergarteners couldn't help but gaze at her in wonderment, as though she were single-handedly climbing Mount Everest. Royal was completely out of the loop as to how she became so talented, as evidenced by his next question: "How did you become so TALENTED?"

"I've been practicing," Lumine smiled as she effortlessly nailed a mini-somersault.

"For what?"

"BOYS!" Lumine grinned in response as Royal gave up all hope of ever understanding teenage women.

"I can't believe it…I'm losing!" Madoi cried. "Then again…she IS a teenager!"

"I suppose this means she doesn't stand a chance against any opponent more intelligent than a kindergartener," Royal thought to himself, then asked the next obvious question: "…But what does this say about Chin…not that I need it spelled out for me now, of course?"

The song almost over, the machine suddenly turned off as all the lights dimmed. A thunderous boom echoed throughout the room as Chin and Mary burst open the door and shouted in a deep and booming voice: "STOP THE MATCH. WE'RE TAKING OVER."

"Argh," Royal murmured as he slapped his head.

"We ALMOST made it…" Blind thought to herself as she logged out of the DDR machine.

"Did he improve at all?" Lumine asked frantically.

Mary looked at Chin, then at her, and replied slowly: "Not even one tiny, little bit."

"So how does he expect to win, then?"

"Well…the training was good for SOMETHING…"

At that moment, the lights turned on again as Chin entered the room…and everyone could see he was in a wheelchair with bandaged-up legs.

"That's right!" Chin shouted with determination. "Thanks to all the leg injuries I suffered during DDR training, at least I have an excuse not to beat you with my weaker LOWER body!"

"Urk…I guess the training sort of helped…" murmured Royal.

"Well then, Cyber Man, are you ready?" Chin said as he turned to his little red friend.

"Whenever you are!" Cyber Man replied as he jumped up and down rather cutely.

With that, Chin brought out a hand-held wireless game controller and plugged it into his PET as he shouted with much determination and vengeance: "YOU CAN DO IT!"

"Adopting a handicap strategy to defeat an opponent as equally powerful as he is?" Blind said to Lumine. "They are the impressive little things, are they not?"

"Well, they didn't use handicaps by their OWN will…" Lumine muttered as her eyes twitched.

"Once again!" Chin shouted. "Ring Around the Rosey!"

And so the music began as Cyber Man's hands attempted to match the movement of Color Man's tiny little feet. Judging by the matching of both of their rhythms, the two DDR competitors were evenly matched.

"It seems they can compete equally for now…" Royal observed. "Then again, this is only the first stretch."

"Later on," Mary continued, "the training will show its true valor! All we have to do is wait."

The second chorus began and suddenly the arrows began arriving more and more hectically. Both Chin and Madoi found themselves and their Navis caught up in a frenzy of handwork and footwork to meet the arrows as they found their way towards the top of the screen. What followed was sheer madness as Chin nearly burnt out his handheld controller trying to manipulate Cyber Man into SOME kind of dance. Clearly his only saving grace was that Madoi seemed to be having trouble herself.

"Argh…no strength at all…" Chin murmured, as for some reason his PET began to glow a mysterious bright red. "How is it I'm still losing? Perhaps I am hopeless after all…"

"Y-you're going to l-lose…" Madoi huffed as she slowly and exhaustedly continued the third chorus. "…and you'll have to try again t-tomorrow…"

"W-wait a minute…" Chin thought to himself. "Now I know the reason I've been trying so hard…I've only been using ONE hand to tackle the buttons on the right side of my controller! Talk about right under your nose!"

With that, he brought his left hand from the arrow keys on the controller's left side to the action buttons on the right, so that both of his hands were now operating the DDR buttons. As he waited for the fourth chorus, he turned to Madoi and muttered ominously, "LET'S BRING THE PAIN."

"Urk…" Madoi stammered.

As the fourth chorus began, Chin showed the true power of a DDR player using both hands, demonstrating sheer professionalism as he manipulated Cyber Man into a series of well-executed break dance moves. Color Man could only stare in awe as he attempted to do the same…but almost tripped over himself trying. It had to be that stupid ball of his; he just knew it.

"Argh!" Madoi shrieked as her inevitable loss finally came at the end of the instrumental sequence, by which Cyber Man had topped off his routine with a very cool thumbs-up signal. "I…I can't believe I finally lost to someone!"

"That's life," Chin shrugged.

Mary turned to Lumine and whispered, "You know…using his hands, I dare say he could almost be as good as we are…am I right, Lumine, Japan Welterweight DDR Champion?"

"You bet, Mary Towa, Intercontinental Champion three years running," Lumine whispered back as she grinned slightly.

AFTER SCHOOL HOURS…

"…As promised…" Madoi murmured in a defeated manner, "…I release the children from my bullying and they're free to enjoy their recess. In turn, the kids agreed among themselves to stop tormenting ME."

"Well of course they should!" Royal shouted. "From what we've heard, you're the one that started tormenting them to begin with! Granted, this was a part-time gig while you were still under Wily's influence, but still…shame on you!"

"Anyway, the case is settled," Madoi said with a smiley wink as she started to walk away. "I'm off to the Aron City Arcade to torment people MY age. I'll see you guys around, 'kay? Ja'ne!"

With that, she was on her way, and the Royal Three, Mary, and Helen Towa faced each other to say THEIR goodbyes.

"Thank you for what you did for me," Mary said with a courteous bow as she brought out her wallet. "Here…my dad said in the rare case that you would win, he would give you this as compensation…so here, you guys clearly earned it."

"A gift card credited for Ten thousand Zenny?" cried Royal. "This is a dream come true!"

"Indeed, our dad is a successful cosmetician!" Helen said smilingly as she perked up. "Consider this your reward for a job well done. We know we can count on you guys in the future, so we'll probably be giving you some requests now and then."

"Heh, no problem with that," Royal murmured happily as he caressed the gift card's plastic body.

"My master is a slave to money," Prometheus boomed just before Royal put his PET into Sleep Mode to quiet his authoritative yet gossip-loving Navi.

With that, Mary and Helen sent their separate ways.

"You're quite a good Navi, Cyber Man!" Chin grinned as he turned to his little red Navi. "I'll be counting on your power a lot more now."

"I'm up for it!" squealed Cyber Man gleefully.

THE NEXT DAY…

"You guys! You guys!" Royal shouted eagerly as he made his way into the Greasy Hawg Brewery's lobby. "We just got a check for ten thousand more Zenny!"

"H-how?" Lumine cried.

"Yeah, we didn't even do anything since the last heist," Chin shrugged.

"I smell something humiliating coming up…" Cyber Man muttered as he looked to the ground.

"Royal…" Blind inquired nervously, "…what exactly did you do this time?"

"Well…" Royal murmured as he rubbed the back of his head, "…you know that show, Aron City's Funniest Videos Ever?"

A lightning bolt struck off in the distance as Chin got up from his seat, an angry look on his face.

"…I submitted the video that Mary took of you practicing DDR…and whaddaya know, we won!"

And so, as Chin chased Dr. Royal madly throughout their headquarters, Royal thought to himself, "Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to help."

At that moment, Greasy Hawg Brewery's separate phone line for criminal requests rang and it became apparent to Lumine that neither Chin nor Royal could answer it. Therefore, she took matters into her own hands.

"Hello? Royal Three Villains for Hire?"

"Ohmagawd, someone finally answered!" replied a young voice on the other side of the line.

"Your accent…Western?"

"Yep, missie. Anyway, I've got a new task for you. My name's Billy Bronson II from Amerope and I have a problem with this lady named Tamako Shiraizumi."

"Go on…" Lumine said as Chin and Royal listened in. Everyone had taken a sudden interest in this conversation; after all, this was THE Billy Bronson II, son of Billy Bronson I (obviously) and heir to the Bronson cattle and horse ranching fortune.

Billy continued unsurely: "Well, she keeps borrowing my cows and saying she'll return them someday, but then she never gets them back. I don't know what she's doing with them, and I need you guys to come to my ranch and find out what Tamako is doing with my cows. Come to Terminal 66 at the Aron City Airport tomorrow. I'll meet you outside in my private jet."

"Wait a minute…let me get something straight here," Royal suddenly popped in as he shook his head. "You have a PRIVATE JET?"

"Just come to Terminal 66 tomorrow, at twelve o' clock high noon," Billy replied after rolling his eyes, and then he hung up the phone and let the Royal Three contemplate their new task.

Royal closed his eyes and lowered his head as he spoke to the rest of his team, "Get packed and rested, people, for we've got an important mission ahead. Yes, tomorrow…"

And so Royal continued while looking up at the sky with determination:

"…we're riding on a private jet."

END OF OPERATION


	4. Operation COWBOY'S LASSO

Afternoons in Aron City were always noisy, especially in the middle-class district. The tumultuous roar of motorcycles could always be heard in the distance as a large bike club gathered at the Greasy Hawg Brewery for their usual afternoon drink. Little did they know that this humble restaurant and bar was more than just a hole in the wall, oblivious to the criminal gang lurking in the bellows of its brick-built exterior. A crime organization known only as…the Royal Three.

"Unload boys, it's time for the morning booze!" shouted the leader, a tall and powerfully built man known only as "Choppahead."

"To alcohol!" cried the fellow members as they raised their arms in a rousing cheer. "The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems!"

"Now let's get ready to put out the fires in our head with even more gasoline!" continued the co-leader "Tiny Tim" (one might be tempted to call him the group's official "moderator") as he got off his custom bike and made his way toward the brewery with his grisly leader in tow.

Suddenly, as the lot of bikers made their way to the front door, Choppahead stepped back in horror and his body trembled with anger as he read a small sign posted on the door, crying WTF in a piercing and shattering scream. For on the sign was written an ominous message for anyone needing desperate recovery from a hangover:

OWNERS ON TEMPORARY LEAVE…WE MAY OR MAY NOT BE BACK, WITHIN A WINDOW OF A FEW WEEKS, GIVE OR TAKE A FEW WEEKS.

"This is unbearable…" Tiny Tim murmured pathetically as he clutched his bandanna-covered scalp. "I feel the hangover comin' on…and there's nothing we can do!"

"I'm afraid we'll have to go to the Greasy Hawg's most challenging rival…" Choppahead muttered while pointing at the sky randomly, "…the Cutesie Kitten!" With that, the bike gang members once again saddled themselves onto their bikes, riding off into the distance…

…and then stopping at the Cutesie Kitten, which just happened to be next door.

"OPEN UP!" screamed Choppahead. "Our heads are banging and our wallets are overflowing! Please, for the sake of our brains, please let us in for a DRINK!"

"Argh, you people are pathetic…" moaned a curious and rebellious-looking young man as he rushed to answer the door.

"You really should be happier," hissed a weird and almost sadistic voice emanating from his PET. "They DO fund our criminal circle, you know…ATSUKI."

"Yeah, I guess so, but they're so troublesome…BURNERMAN."

"Argh, just open the door!" shouted an impatient voice from the second floor of the Cutesie Kitten. "As long as they've got money, the customer is always right."

"I figured that…" Atsuki murmured as he grudgingly answered the door…and stared Choppahead straight in the face.

"Welcome to the Cutesie Kitten…hey, don't you guys usually go to the Greasy Hawg?"

"Well, we would have, except they're closed without notice…hey. HEY. You're our former colleagues. The…the…"

"That's right," Atsuki smirked as a mocha-skinned girl with orange dread locks and a man resembling a much more sinister and dark version of Dr. Royal came into view. "Now that you know who we are, there's no more use in hiding behind Cardinal Rule Number Three. My name is Atsuki, this young lady is named Anetta, and the big lurking thing over there is our leader, Dr. Flush. Together we are…"

An aura of unrestrained menace surrounded them as they continued simultaneously:

"…THE FLUSH THREE."

OPERATION 3: C.O.W.B.O.Y.S.-L.A.S.S.O. (Crude, Obnoxious Woman Bothersome to Omnipotent Youth's Super-Lavish Array of Surprisingly Succculent Organisms)

"This is the terminal," Royal observed, pointing at terminal number 66. "The place where we have to meet Billy Bronson…for a ride in that private jet of his!"

"I wonder who Tamako is," Chin said uncertainly. "Last I heard, she was supposed to be some souvenir peddler selling stuff in a Japanese hot springs resort."

"Business has been booming for her recently," Lumine pondered aloud. "It's possible she expanded her business into central Amerope in recent months."

"What kind of person is Tamako?" Cyber Man asked curiously with a tilt of his head.

"Well, she's not right in her head, I'll say this much," Blind replied while lowering her head in disappointment. "Lumine and I had the misfortune of meeting her several years ago and she was desperate to challenge us…that woman just wouldn't leave us alone."

"If memory serves me correctly," Royal wondered, "…wasn't she the one who operated Metal Man? That crazy enthusiast or something, right?"

"Memory serves you correctly, yes," Chin replied. "What I don't get is why she's suddenly into borrowing cows. Closest thing I can think of is fertilizer or something like that…"

Lumine and Royal looked at Chin, cringed, and twisted their faces in disgust.

"Howdy," a young man looking no more than fifteen years old said as he came up from behind them. "The name's Billy Bronson. I understand you guys are…er…the Greasy Hawg Brewery people."

The three sighed, glad that he was aware of that by-now-familiar third rule.

"I'm so glad you guys could make it!" Billy continued, emitting his own sigh of relief. "This woman…this damn woman…she's been giving me so much headache recently. I've just lost control of my cattle fortune thanks to her! I thought, who better to deal with a criminal than…" and he continued in a soft whisper, "…a criminal? Oh, and you'll have to keep this on the down low. I haven't discussed this with any of the board members for obvious reasons."

"Slow down, pal," Chin replied as he raised his hand, as well as an eyebrow. "We know Tamako is trying to steal your cattle. Do you have any clue why?"

"That's what I've been trying to find out," Billy replied as he directed them through an elevator to the outside lower levels, towards the Aron City airport flight docking grounds. "That woman just keeps borrowing my cows and promising to return them, which she never does. I'm getting the feeling she's up to something, but I have no idea what. And…oh good, right on time!"

Billy Bronson waved over to his pilot as he stood in front of one of the most impressive private jets in existence. With its long and slender trident body, conservative yet striking two-tone black and grey paint job complete with gold "Bronson" lettering, and rounded edges eluding subtle technological form and function, it seemed much like a smaller version of the Concorde. Royal couldn't help but wonder if he'd ever get the chance to own one and name it after himself.

"Well, then!" Billy grinned. "I can't stand the Aron City heat, so maybe we ought to get back and find out exactly what that rascal Tamako is up to!"

"Huh huh…he said Rascal…" Chin thought to himself.

"I wonder what kind of Navi Tamako commands," Cyber Man wondered to himself. "Who is this Metal Man of hers? Is she as powerful as me?"

Once inside the private jet, each of the four sat down on the luxurious seats as a waiter passed around some waffles.

"Fresh from the oven, good sirs!" he said with a smile as he passed around the golden discs of flaky goodness.

"Mmm, these are GOOD!" Royal said most ungraciously with his mouth full, after which Lumine nudged him embarrassingly. "How do you eat like this every day?"

"It's simple!" Billy replied. "Everyone knows waffles are a Bronson family favorite. Cheap, easy to make, go well with almost anything."

"I'm relieved…" Lumine thought to herself. "For the son of a distinguished cattle rancher's family, he's really down-to-earth."

"So about this new mission of ours," Chin said, bringing this little discussion back on topic, "how many cows does Tamako usually borrow at a time…and how often?"

"Er…" Billy wondered aloud. "Well, I've pretty much lost count over how many she's tried to take so far. But I do know she usually comes to steal ten at a time, around twice a year."

"How much of your profits are hurt every time she does this?" Royal inquired.

"About half. Trust me, these cows are valuable, the way we bring 'em up."

"Do you know where Tamako's residence is?" asked Cyber Man, taking a sudden interest in the conversation. "Maybe she's keeping the cows there!"

"Agreed," Blind continued. "A house, a building, some permanent storage area would be the most logical place to find them."

"According to our studies, there are only a few residential buildings scattered throughout your area," Royal murmured as he scratched his chin. "So if the cows were to be hidden in a house, and if there are as many of them as you say that are under her possession…they couldn't all possibly fit in a single home. That's what bothers me…they should be so easy to find in a landscape as barren as this, where they can only roam outside, but…something's definitely wrong here."

"This is getting rather creepy…" Lumine wondered. "How can a mass of cows just…disappear?"

"I thought it was strange at first too," Billy muttered as he gazed out the window, his eyes glazed over in puzzlement. "I then discovered that somehow she lists a different residence every time we arrange for a delivery. She does pay an initial deposit per the contract, but she still owes me a lot of money. Supposedly she's keeping them stored in different areas, which I suppose makes sense…but since she agreed to borrow and not keep them, I'd like to know what's going on with my babies."

"This just keeps getting more and more interesting…" Chin wondered.

"Lord Bronson!" the pilot called from the cockpit. "We're approaching the Gainestown terminal, and ETA is 15 minutes."

"Understood," Billy replied as he nodded his acknowledgement. "Take us down slow and easy."

"Right away, sir."

"Hey Chin!" Cyber Man perked up. "Look out the window!"

"What is it, Cyber…ooh," Chin murmured softly as he stared out the window at the most beautiful sunset he had ever seen in his life. Clouds of mocha played a surreal and artistic ballet of artistry, dancing gleefully around the crimson hues that became ever so yellow as they approached the sun's brilliance. It was clearly times like these that reminded Chin that no matter what his mood, no matter how disturbed or unsettled his disposition, he was always a sucker for a good sunset.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Cyber Man asked as his little beady eyes widened considerably. "Is this what is meant by…a sunset?"

"Yeah," Chin replied. "A good one at that."

"I could stay up here forever like this," Lumine said as she stared out the window, her Navi Blind too entranced to talk. "Just floating above the clouds, gazing at the open sky."

"Heh…yeah," Dr. Royal continued as he folded his arms. "If we didn't have a mission to complete, we could probably fly around all we wanted to, but sadly, we're on someone else's time."

"Nah, no problem at all. Let them talk," Billy said smilingly as he waved his hand. "I see it every day and it's nothing special to me, but somehow it's a lot more meaningful when I hear it described like that."

For the next fifteen minutes, everyone stared at the setting sun, fully eclipsing itself behind the Earth's curve before the Bronson private jet finally touched down. An array of lights and the chatter of an air traffic controller over the intercom guided the supersonic private jet to its spot at the terminals. Once the airport taxi guided it into the proper area, its engines slowed to a halt and the passengers disembarked to begin their quest for Tamako.

"Where do you think she could be?" Chin asked in slight puzzlement. "There are so many places she could hide."

"Adding to the complication…" Royal continued, "…she listed numerous addresses so it's possible she's hiding out at any one of them. For that matter, we don't even know if she is staying at a motel or any hotels in this area, or even out of this country for that matter."

"Did she leave a phone number?" Lumine asked. "Usually, aren't you required to leave your phone with the party that provides the goods to be delivered?"

"Well, the problem here…" Billy replied unsurely as he rubbed the back of his head, "…is that she also gave me a number of phone numbers, and on every one of them she lists her home phone number as her work phone as well. Company policy insists that if this is the case, the customer is hinting that we shouldn't disturb him or her."

"Huh, what a rule," Chin murmured, "For businessmen, I mean."

"Yes, that much is understood. My curiosity tempts me to break that rule. For now, I've arranged a ride to my estate in northern Gainestown, so we can figure out where to find this Tamako."

With this, Billy put his fingers to his mouth and made a loud whistle. A few moments later, a large black stretched luxury limousine with a license plate reading "BRONSON" pulled up before them, and the four of them got inside for the drive to the Bronson estate. None of them said anything for a while as they pondered the overwhelming task to come, until Royal popped up with a simple question.

"Mr. Bronson…" Royal asked, "…just where is your estate?"

"The Sunset Farms area," Billy replied modestly, adding in another equally modest note: "And for the record, please just call me Billy."

"The Sunset Farms?" Chin perked up suddenly. "That's the wealthy district, where all the rich and powerful cattle ranchers establish their ranches!"

"Eh, I just think of it as another village, just some random hole in the wall," Billy shrugged. "To tell the truth, I hate this place. Everyone's so stuck up and rich here. Sometimes I go on vacation just to get away from it all."

"It must be tough for you," Lumine said in a soft and reassuring tone, "…growing up in a place like this. Did you ever think of what would happen if you didn't have so many responsibilities to keep up with?"

Billy looked out the window with a glazed-over look in his eyes as he replied, "All the time."

The black aristocratic bulk of the limousine continued off into the horizon…

BACK AT THE CUTESIE KITTEN BREWERY…

"So I take it you're the bike club known as the Hellbound Honeymooners," Dr. Flush said ominously as he scratched his chin, a few days' stubble adorning the edges of his sinister face.

"Yeah, that's us, the one and only!" Choppahead replied, slamming his fist onto the table with pride. "I'm Choppahead, the leader, and don't ya forget it!"

"Ah, shame on us…we still haven't introduced ourselves properly," Flush said with a slight smirk. "My name is Doctor Flush, and this is my Net Navi Sigma.exe. I am the leader of the Flush Three, quite obviously."

"Always a pleasure," hissed an ominous voice from Flush's PET. "You all seem rather…competent."

"My name's Anetta," said Anetta with a courteous wave, "…and this is my Net Navi Silk.exe!"

"Greetings and salutations," Silk said smilingly. "We are the medical backup for this team."

"Finally, I'm Atsuki! Heh!" Atsuki shouted as he stepped forward and made a Louis Strongarm pose hot-headedly. "This is my Net Navi, Burnerman!"

"Argh!" Burnerman shouted. "Finally, some competent-lookin' guys. Sure I prefer to work alone, but guess the help is welcome anyways."

"The name's Tiny Tim!" Choppahead's co-leader said as he stepped forward. "Feel free to call me Tiny…heck, everyone else does."

"And we're the expendable peons!" shouted the other club members.

"Welcome, one and all, to the crime syndicate of the Flush Three!" Flush shouted authoritatively as he spread his arms to welcome the new arrivals to his clan. "First of all…there's a little job I need you all to do for me."

"What kind of job?" Choppahead asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"That," Flush said as he pointed toward the Greasy Hawg. "Take it over."

"Dude, we can't exactly do that. I mean, we've built up a rep there. We got good relations with both of you guys, so we can't exactly…"

"…This is getting nowhere fast," Atsuki interjected while rolling his eyes. "Look. Think of all the hangovers you guys would have gotten if we never actually listened. Think of how miserable you felt this morning when the Greasy Hawg wasn't open. Would you really consider remaining loyal to a place that abandoned you in this, your time of greatest need?"

"Face it," Anetta continued. "The Greasy Hawg is corrupt. This is a sure sign that they're going down the drain. They've been building good relations with you for the sole reason of profit. Think about it. You come in and pay them for drinks, and then what? The talk ends there. On the other hand, you've got a deep history with us that extends way back and you know it!"

"So what do you say?" Flush said with his arms still spread welcomingly. "Will you continue to foster our good relations…or stick with the devils that milked you for money."

Choppahead closed his eyes and took a moment to think. Then after a while, he opened them and grunted with deep determination:

"They're a bunch of dead men."

The Flush Three smiled in response.

IN THE CYBER WORLD…

"What's wrong, Burnerman?" Silk asked nervously as the rabid cupcake paced frantically back and forth. "You seem rather worried."

"Just out of the loop, that's all," Burnerman replied. "How can we be sure these guys will actually come through this time? Last time, they were competent, but things tend to change."

"Ignore them," Sigma boomed as he logged in silently.

"DAMMIT!" Burnerman screamed. "You know I hate it when you do that!"

"Sorry," Sigma replied as he rubbed the back of his head. "Anyway, bear in mind that the bike club is expendable."

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Silk asked curiously.

"Once we gain their loyalty, they will become obedient servants of my master, and will soon help us achieve our dreams of world domination. The fact still remains, of course, that Flush is a powerful figure well-known in the criminal world. He has presence. That is what makes these new inductees such expendable assets of this syndicate."

"So what you're saying…" Burnerman said with a sadistic grin, "…is that for every one of them we lose, ten more will rise to take their places!"

"Precisely," Sigma replied, his grin a mirror of Burnerman's. "Win or lose…we can never lose!"

"…And that's why you're the leader!" Silk said happily with a cackling laugh.

OPERATION TO BE CONTINUED…


End file.
